Jeremiah Chapter 27

¹ A Message to Jeremiah from the LORD

at the Beginning of the Reign of Zedekiah

Son of Josiah, King of Judah

Jeremiah Wears an Ox Yoke

² “Make yokes and straps and put them on your neck. ³ Send back a message to the kings of Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, Tyre, and Sidon by the couriers that come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah. ⁴ Have them tell their masters, ‘The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says, ⁵ “By my power I made the world, its people and animals. I’ll give it to whoever pleases me. ⁶ I’ve given these countries to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, my servant. I’ve even given him the wild animals. ⁷ Every nation will serve him, his son, and his grandson till the time when many nations and great kings make him and his land their servant.         Jer 27:1-7    

⁸ “Any kingdom that doesn’t surrender and put its neck under his yoke, I’ll punish with sword, famine, and disease. ⁹ Don’t listen to prophets, fortunetellers, dreamers, soothsayers, and sorcerers that tell you not to surrender; ¹⁰ they’re lying. You’ll be exiled and perish. ¹¹ But a nation that puts its neck under his yoke, I’ll let remain on its land, cultivate it, and keep living there.”’”

¹² I told Zedekiah, king of Judah,

“Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon. Surrender and you’ll stay alive! ¹³ Why die by sword, famine, and disease like the LORD warned any nation that wouldn’t serve him? ^14-15 I didn’t send the prophets that tell you otherwise. They’re prophesying falsely in my name. As a result, I’ll drive you out; you and those prophets will perish.”

Jer 27:8-15

¹⁶ I told the priests and the people,

“The LORD says not to listen to prophets that tell you the articles from the Temple will soon come back from Babylon. ¹⁷ Surrender and you’ll stay alive! Why let this city become a ruin? ¹⁸ If those prophets have the LORD’s message, let them ask him that the articles still in his Temple not go to Babylon. ¹⁹ The LORD of Hosts says about the pillars, the sea, the stands, the articles still in this city—²⁰things Nebuchadnezzar didn’t take when he exiled Jeconiah and the nobles in Judah and Jerusalem—[ ²¹ ] ²² ‘He’ll take them to Babylon till I go and bring them back.’”                                                                                                     

Jer 27:16-22